Sojourner Truth vs. Frances Joseph-Gaudet

Today two powerful, trail-blazing women face off as Sojourner Truth takes on Frances Joseph-Gaudet. In the first round, Sojourner made quick work of Soren Kierkegaard while Frances defeated John Mason Neale. The winner of this epic battle will face Absalom Jones in the Elate Eight.

Let's just state from the outset that, no, you can't vote for both. And abstaining only makes you come off as indecisive. So, read, revel in their respective accomplishments, and then vote!

Yesterday Vida Dutton Scudder upset Clare of Assisi 52% to 48%. Is Vida the first true Cinderella of Lent Madness 2016?

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was a preacher, activist, and all-around freedom fighter in the mid-19th century.

Her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech was given in Akron, Ohio in 1851. It was extemporaneous, because she couldn’t read or write, and contemporary accounts vary wildly. “I can't read, but I can hear. I have heard the Bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.” The phrase “ain’t I a woman?” never appeared in accounts of what she said until years later. That phrase appears to have sprung from the pens of the White journalists who were playing on popular assumptions of how Southern, uneducated slaves spoke. However, Sojourner herself grew up speaking exclusively Dutch in New York. From all other accounts of her speaking, she spoke impeccable English with no Southern accent, so she more than likely never used that particular phrase.

She was an incredibly popular preacher. She spoke on her unique biblical interpretations based on her life experiences--something most White audiences had never heard. “Children, who made your skin white? Was it not God? Who made mine black? Was it not the same God? Am I to blame, therefore, because my skin is black? Does it not cast a reproach on our Maker to despise a part of His children, because He has been pleased to give them a black skin? Indeed, children, it does; and your teachers ought to tell you so, and root up, if possible, the great sin of prejudice against color from your minds....

Does not God love colored children as well as white children? And did not the same Savior die to save the one as well as the other? If so, white children must know that if they go to Heaven, they must go there without their prejudice against color, for in Heaven black and white are one in the love of Jesus. "

A big part of this popularity was her dry wit. In an unidentified speech, she had a good time commenting on the fancy clothes of fellow women’s rights activists. “I'm awful hard on dress, you know. Women, you forget that you are the mothers of creation; you forget that your sons were cut off like grass by the war, and that the land was covered by their blood; you rig yourselves up in panniers and Grecian bend-backs and flummeries; yes and mothers and gray-haired grandmothers wear highheeled shoes and humps on their heads, and put them on their babies, and stuff them out so that they keel over when the wind blows.”

Buoyed by a prophetic voice, and a healthy sprinkling of humor, Sojourner spoke truth to power throughout the country at a pivotal time in history.

— Megan Castellan

Frances Joseph-Gaudet 

"Permission is hereby granted to Mrs. Frances A. Joseph to visit Police Jail at any time she feels disposed." John W. Murphy, Commissioner, Department of Police and Public Buildings, New Orleans, March 10, 1898

CONGRATULATIONS! You have won an all expense cyber-tour of the life and times of Frances Joseph-Gaudet: educator, activist, and reformer. On your cyber-tour, you will have an all-inclusive experience at locations across the globe.

Day 1:  You will travel to a log cabin in Holmesville, MS where you will experience where Frances was born to a Native American mother, and an indentured slave for a father.

Day 2:  From Mississippi, you will travel to New Orleans, LA to see Frances' next home with her grandparents. We will take a tour of the site of Straight College where Frances attended university on beautiful Canal Street in New Orleans. While downtown, we will mosey on over to St. Luke's Episcopal Church to enjoy the beauty of this worship space that houses a stained glass of Frances, and where the parish hall is dedicated in her honor. St. Luke's is Frances' national shrine. From St. Luke's we will take a tour of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana where your church can apply for the "Gaudet Community Grant" for community endeavors that creates educational opportunities for African American children. Frances' gift of education continues to give to this day.

Day 3:  We will hop on a PLANE for Scotland! Yes, you will get to go to Scotland to experience the Women's Christian Temperance Union convention in Edinburgh where Frances assumed responsibility for young blacks convicted of misdemeanor and vagrancy. We will continue our trip abroad through London, Paris, and Belfast as Frances continues her global advocacy.

Day 4:  We will return to Louisiana where we will tour the Gaudet Normal and Industrial School, now known as the Gaudet Episcopal Home for orphans. While the home is no longer in active use, you can still apply for scholarships and other endowments through Frances' generosity. If time permits, we will tour the 22 prisons that Frances visited in her life.

Day 5:  From Louisiana, we will head to Middletown, RI to see Gaudet Middle School, the middle school attended by this blogger as proof that God has divine plans and intersections. Frances was a part of my life before I knew it.

Day 6: From Rhode Island, we will travel to Chicago, Illinois to the final resting place of Frances. Frances summed up her life by saying, "the hope that when our women read of this my mission, they may become inspired to do what they can in the same way."

You will experience poverty, international travel, education, incarceration and adoption on this journey of Frances Joseph-Gaudet. You will not be bored.

— Anna Fitch Courie

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112 comments on “Sojourner Truth vs. Frances Joseph-Gaudet”

  1. Tough choices, but Soujourne's noble ability to speak "truth" about the sad and deplorable sin of prejudice wins the vote.

  2. Thank you for correcting the record with the fact that Sojourner Truth spoke impeccable English--the phrase attributed to her never sounded real to me from such a thinker and speaker. My vote today goes to Frances, however. She brought the comfort, challenge and wisdom of our faith to those in prison, souls we are all admonished to visit and remember. She shepherded Black youth from the imminent danger of a life in the system to productive education instead. Now, when education is knows to be the best way to end the criminalizing of youth, we need to be inspired by and learn from her amazing work!

  3. Difficult decision today with two compelling stories. Just wanted to set the record straight on the name of the middle school in Middletown. Gaudet Middle School was named for Joseph H Gaudet, a dedicated and long-serving superintendent of schools for the town.

  4. Though they are both amazing women, I have to stand by my Mississippi girl once again. Putting them both in their context of time and place, Truth joined various groups fighting for the causes of the day, while Gaudet quietly took up the cause of the forgotten. While I'm sure she had some help and eventually garnered international support, as a mixed-race, single mother in the South, her personal accomplishments strike me as nothing short of astonishing. And as saintliness goes, Truth was a slave and a woman fighting for her own rights as well as others, but, as near as I can tell, Gaudet was never a prisoner or a juvenile delinquent ... making her efforts just a little bit more selfless.

  5. Although I thought Anna's write up was creative and unique (excellent job Anna), I had to vote for Sojourner. All the way to the Golden Halo!!

  6. Sojourner in another landslide, and I'm a pebble in that landslide. I like the tone of her quotes. I'm also struck by the fact that the argument that God made her black and we should not despise God's work, is also used these days by gays and lesbians. Truly prophetic.

  7. This one was so hard for me that I ended up flipping a coin -- literally -- a first for me in Lent Madness. Both so wonderful and worthy. Frances won the coin flip and so got my vote. But I'll also be happy if Sojourner wins, as seems likely from the vote at present.

  8. Another very difficult choice between two remarkable activist women. I voted for Sojourner for many reasons, not least because of her broad influence on social awareness in her time. Also, I love the fact that education is not necessarily a prerequisite for eloquence.

  9. I find a monumental quality in Sojourner Truth that puts her among the really great saints throughout history. I wouldn't have expected that at first, but as I read and reread her bios it gradually came over me that she is truly a figure for the ages.

  10. I voted for Sojourner because she fought against slavery and supported women's rights two things which I feel are vitally important. This is not to say that Frances isn't a great choice either.

  11. ..."for in Heaven black and white are one in the love of Jesus"... speaking Truth to power! Slavery and it's still-present legacy in racism are America's "original sin". Sojourner's words and life cut across the decades and centuries - we need them as much today as when she bravely spoke them the first time.

  12. Oh my! What splendid saints God and the SEC have given us today! I voted for Sojourner because she was totally heroic and clearly a genius and her preaching was so filled with truth that still echoes for us today. How I wish someone had been able to record her sermons back then! And that she spoke impeccable English despite being illiterate, and Dutch as well, the language of my ancestors still being spoken in Sojourner's youth in New York--wow! And besides, it's my little "vengeance" to vote for Sojourner, since the admittedly very wonderful Frances had in the earlier round vanquished one of my all-time favorite saints, John Mason Neale, whose hymn translations I look forward so much to singing during Holy Week and Easter: "All glory, laud and honor to thee, Redeemer King!" I am sure both Sojourner and Frances will be joining us in the singing.

  13. This was very, very, very, very, very, hard to decide. To amazing women with admirable qualities and courage beyond measure, living in difficult times and making a major difference. I promised myself that I would vote for Sojourner Truth next year.
    P.S. I had to put my husband's e-mail address in, since the computer wouldn't except mine of: i.smite@verizon.net.

  14. Alas, the middle school in Middletown, RI (where I used to live) is named after a man named Joseph Herbert Gaudet, not Frances. As far as I can tell, she had no connection with "Little Rhody."

  15. So tough today. Such beautifully and creatively written pieces on each. However, I am voting for Frances today, because I fear it is my last chance. I think I will have the opportunity to "lift up" Sojourner one more time. Also, there is something arresting and transfixing about Frances' stained glass portrait. I feel calm just gazing at her.

  16. Interesting that the actual wording of the speech is no longer known. We have a number of quotations of a failry well known religious figure of the first century, and most of his actual words are no longer known. The accounts of his comments were written decades after the events, and in many instances, the accounts report events when (if one take the report seriously) no one was actually present. One account, written more than half a century later, has whole chapters of quotes of that noted figure, without interruption. Plainly, those words are not at all likely to be the actual words of that noted figure. And yet, we often read them as if they were. The reason is fairly clear (leaving aside appeals to magic): The folks who wrote those accounts were giving the best accounts they possibly could of that person, and history has pretty much judged them to have done a pretty good job.
    I see absolutely no reason to look askance at the comment "Ain't I a woman?" Indeed, I have had the privilege of knowing a number of co-workers, any one of whom could easily have spoken that phrase without the slightest trace of irony or condescension. It's true; it's prophetic in the very best sense of the word. That's why those people heard it even if she perhaps might not have said it.

    1. Alice Walker got it just right ( to me anyway ) in her public reading of Sojourner's " Ain't I A Woman, talk in Ohio in 1851 that shocked and electrified the crowed. Sojourner could not read or write and her first language was Dutch, she certainly did not speak " The King's English," She was filled with the Spirit and spoke the truth to power out of her deep and profound grasp of truth and her personal courage.

  17. I read a book about Sojourner Truth when I was in about 4th grade. She has always been an hero for me even if she didn't make the particular speech attributed to her.

  18. I vote for both....absolutely hate such forced choices. Ruined my day having to choose. Not saying for which I voted, just thankful for the lives and work of them both. (Wish presidential choices were as difficult!!!)

    1. Presidential choices are usually as difficult for me -- but because I don't really want to vote for EITHER of them!

  19. I vote for Sojourner Truth for her wit, wisdom, and the timelessness of her message today--no matter which particular sin we think we are battling.

  20. I was sure that Sojourner would have my vote, but Frances won me over with all she did for children and her enduring legacy. My heart votes for both.

  21. The voting is not over yet! Frances for me today. She had a double whammy against her: American Indian and black heritage. Yet look at all she accomplished through love and with the help of her Heavenly Father. It is not faith vs works, but works because of deep faith.